The Council of Canadians Montreal chapter attended a talk by Avi Lewis on the Leap Manifesto at Concordia University on April 9.

The Council of Canadians formally endorsed the 15 demands of the Leap Manifesto in September 2015.

Those demands are as follows:

1- The leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land, starting by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

2- The latest research shows we could get 100% of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.

3- No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard.

4- The time for energy democracy has come: wherever possible, communities should collectively control new clean energy systems. Indigenous Peoples and others on the frontlines of polluting industrial activity should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects.

5- We want a universal program to build and retrofit energy efficient housing, ensuring that the lowest income communities will benefit first.

6- We want high-speed rail powered by just renewables and affordable public transit to unite every community in this country – in place of more cars, pipelines and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.

7- We want training and resources for workers in carbon-intensive jobs, ensuring they are fully able to participate in the clean energy economy.

8- We need to invest in our decaying public infrastructure so that it can withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

9- We must develop a more localized and ecologically-based agricultural system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, absorb shocks in the global supply – and produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone.

10- We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.

11- We demand immigration status and full protection for all workers. Canadians can begin to rebalance the scales of climate justice by welcoming refugees and migrants seeking safety and a better life.

12- We must expand those sectors that are already low-carbon: caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts and public-interest media. A national childcare program is long past due.

13- Since so much of the labour of caretaking – whether of people or the planet – is currently unpaid and often performed by women, we call for a vigorous debate about the introduction of a universal basic annual income.

14- We declare that “austerity” is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth. The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available — we just need the right policies to release it. An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties. Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending.

15- We must work swiftly towards a system in which every vote counts and corporate money is removed from political campaigns.

The Council of Canadians Windsor-Essex chapter along with Windsor on Watch is conducting a Leap Manifesto survey today.

As noted on the City of Windsor's website, "Join us to celebrate Earth Day 2017 on Sunday, April 23 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Malden Park. This event is free for the public. There will be over 40 environmental exhibits; wildflower planting; arts and crafts; a nature scavenger hunt; and many more environmental activities!"

As can be seen in the photos above, they have posted each of the Leap Manifesto's 15 demands on a display board. They are now asking people which three demands they most strongly support.

The Council of Canadians formally endorsed all these demands when the manifesto was launched in September 2015. At that time, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented, “At the grassroots level we have in our organization local activist chapters and they are hungry for this kind of vision and direction.”

The chapter is also distributing "Don't Frack Our Water" and "Boycott Nestle" buttons and stickers, along with membership brochures.

The Council of Canadians Thunder Bay chapter is connecting with Leap Thunder Bay in preparation for the municipal election on October 22, 2018.

In a blog posted on April 27, The Leap notes, "Earlier this month, a new local Leap group launched in Thunder Bay, Ontario, unveiling their own, localized version of the manifesto—and a bold proposal for how to enact the platform, by running a slate of Leap candidates for City Council in next year’s municipal election."

It adds, "Like the original manifesto, Thunder Bay’s version begins with a call to respect Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and sets out some of the local dimensions of a rapid transition to 100% renewables. Most of the document’s 10 demands are thoroughly rooted in the needs and hopes of the Thunder Bay community, ranging from bolstering small business and ending homelessness, to finding ways to invite and assist new residents ('no matter their place of origin'), to reclaiming empty spaces within city limits for the public. Leap Thunder Bay is hoping to engage with and support as many candidates committed to the platform as possible, and aims to elect at least a majority of the council."

Leap Thunder Bay says, "We believe this change has to start at a local and neighbourhood level and that electing a team of city councillors who will work together to support the Leap Manifesto and endorse this vision will be an important first step.”

Our Thunder Bay chapter was also engaged in the last municipal election.

In the lead-up to the October 2014 election, it produced this report card by asking all the candidates running in that election whether they supported or opposed the 1.1 million barrel per day Energy East tar sands pipeline.

At the September 18, 2015 media conference in Toronto that launched the Leap Manifesto, a reporter asked, “How do you plan to use and move forward this manifesto?” Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow responded, “At the grassroots level we have in our organization local activist chapters and they are hungry for this kind of vision and direction. I think we’ll see it outward around the world but I think it will also be dramatically welcomed by grassroots communities around this country.”

Since then, more than 4,290 people have gone to twenty-seven Council of Canadians chapter-organized screenings of 'This Changes Everything' across the country, which have often included discussions about the Leap Manifesto.

Furthermore, our Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter and its allies are key supporters of the Localizing LEAP committee in their community. In October 2016, they hosted Avi Lewis at a well-attended to public forum to help spread the word about the Leap Manifesto and what is being done locally.

Last weekend, our Windsor-Essex chapter and Windsor on Watch organized a Leap Manifesto survey. To do so, they set up an information table at an Earth Day gathering in Malden Park and posted each of the Leap Manifesto's 15 demands on a display board. They then asked people which three demands they most strongly support.

The Council of Canadians Montreal chapter helped form a 'Leap community chapter in Montreal' at a meeting yesterday. Several chapter activists were present at the inaugural meeting that brought together 22 people.

The outreach for the meeting highlighted:

• Leap groups are engaged in a wide array of work, from hosting educational events, to drafting localized versions of the Manifesto to encouraging action in their communities, to organizing fundraisers for frontline Indigenous communities.• It’s really up to us to decide what work we want to do! We know best what it is that our community needs.• We share a commitment to the principles of the Leap Manifesto, and a commitment to intersectional work that breaks down traditional silos between groups fighting for social and environmental justice.

The initial priorities for Leap Montreal include:

• Calling on federal NDP leadership candidates at a debate on May 14 in Montreal to endorse the Leap manifesto.• Helping to launch Naomi Klein's new book No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need that will be released on June 13.• Participating in the 'Unsettling Canada 150: a national wake up call' day of action on July 1 that calls for the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.• Informing scientists attending the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting on September 3-9 in Montreal about the Leap manifesto.• Initiating a letter writing campaign to oppose the Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) public-private partnership driver-less commuter train project that could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions.• Inviting representatives of Québec Solidaire, the Parti vert du Québec, and NDP Québec to discuss and debate their environmental policies and applying the Leap manifesto as a framework for those discussions.• Attempting to bring the Leap manifesto into high schools, colleges and universities.

The Council of Canadians formally endorsed all these demands when the manifesto was launched in September 2015. At that time, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented, “At the grassroots level we have in our organization local activist chapters and they are hungry for this kind of vision and direction.”

Council of Canadians chapters in Peterborough-Kawarthas and Thunder Bay are also involved in localized Leap initiatives.